1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to safety devices, and in particular, to devices which protect the eyesight and hearing of a human being from injury.
2. DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART
It is often desired to protect the eyes of a human being from being injured by flying debris at the workplace and to protect the hearing of a human being from being injured due to excessive noise at the workplace. Well-known solutions for this problem include providing separate safety glasses and earplugs; however, in practice, such as when an employee must daily provide or repeatedly remember to don such protection, the problem of loss of separate protection devices may lead to lost work time or other inconvenience until proper protection in the work environment can be restored.
Well-known solutions for this problem include providing safety glasses with earplugs attached to the safety glasses in some manner. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,278,999 issued to Brown et al. discloses an improved combined ear and eye shield that includes a head support independent of the eye shield. U.S. Pat. No. 5,475,449 issued to Pyle on Dec. 12, 1995 discloses a device which removably secures a standard set of earplugs to a pair of eyeglasses, preferably safety glasses, by double looping a standard cord with a pair of cord adjusters. U.S. Pat. No. 5,717,479 issued to Rickards on Feb. 10, 1998 discloses an industrial safety assembly including a front frame member having a transparent shatterproof eye panel and protective inserts removably secured thereto for shielding a wearer's eyes and for muffling exterior noise. U.S. Pat. No. 5,718,002 issued to Pavlak discloses eye and ear protective eye-wear comprising a standard pair of conventional reading glasses, prescription glasses, safety glasses or sunglasses to which a pair of wind-deflecting deflectors are attached to the lenses and/or frame and extend rearward from the lenses toward the ear. U.S. Pat. No. 5,781,272 issued to Bright et al. on Jul. 14, 1998 discloses an eyesight and hearing apparatus comprising a front guard portion defined by a front transparent panel and a first and second earplug.
However, none of the aforementioned inventions disclose a combination safety glasses and an hearing protective device defined by a pair of earplugs permanently affixed to a conventional eyeglass frame by a flexible tether for preventing removal of the earplugs from the eyeglasses frame. None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.